Chance The Rapper Donates $1 Million To Chicago Public Schools

07Mar

Here is one more reason to confirm that Chance The Rapper is, in fact, the most awesome artist we have from this generation. The independent artist and Grammy winner reportedly shelled out $1 million of his own money to donate to Chicago public schools.

The 23-year-old is living by example, since he is always talking about making positive changes to society and doing good for the underprivileged in his own community and throughout the United States.

The whole donation thing started last week, when Chance The Rapper (real name: Chancellor Johnathan Bennett) had a meeting with Illinois Governor, Bruce Rauner where they discussed about funding towards Chicago schools. The topic came up because Chance was bracing the issue of providing for the Chicago youth and wanted to know why things weren’t getting better, especially for education, which should be a priority.

Chance had posted to Twitter about his expectations of the meeting, to which the Governor had suggested that the rapper come up with some good ideas himself. At the meeting itself, it was shared that total funding of $215 million was needed for public schools, which the state was finding difficult to acquire. Chance The Rapper shared with the media that the Governor asked him where that amount was going to come from.

He then tweeted out what he felt about the matter, and that he was going to sit on it and think about it over the weekend. His post said: “Chicago Public Schools and I did not lose today. Please don’t let that become the narrative. Monday morning I’ll have a plan.”

Chicago Public Schools and I did not lose today. Please don't let that become the narrative. Monday morning I'll have a plan.

So come Monday morning, the Same Drugs artist came up with a plan – donating his own money to the cause. Now, we all know that Chance is an independent artist, staying firmly away from commercial music labels and earning his money through concerts and selling his work and merchandise online. Yet, he managed to pull through and shell out $1 million for Chicago public schools.

At a press conference held in Oliver S Westcott Elementary School in South Side, Chicago, he told the press –

Today I’m proud to announce that I am donating $1 million to CPS to support arts and enriching programming. I’m excited to share that this donation was made possible by my fans.

Living by his word, practising what he preaches – that’s a true man. And though $1 million isn’t even close to what the State requires for the schooling system, it’s a start, and should encourage others to do the same.